Recognizing the importance of education as a driver of development, in its latest education policy framework, Tonga has affirmed its commitment to ensuring equitable access to schooling for all Tongans by 2035. In the wake of recent disasters that have highlighted the vulnerability of the country’s schools to natural hazards, Tonga has put the resilience of the school system at the center of that framework. According to UNICEF, the 2022 volcanic eruption and tsunami, for example, is estimated to have affected 66 percent of students in Tonga and damaged or destroyed 11 schools. 

The Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and the World Bank, including through the Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific-European Union Disaster Risk Management Program (ACP-EU DRM), stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Tonga in building the resilience of the country’s schools. Across the board, this support is also advancing social and gender inclusion in Tonga’s education sector. 

GFDRR technical assistance has been instrumental in the design and implementation of the nearly $50.8 million Tonga Safe and Resilient Schools Project. Under this initiative, 24 school buildings have been constructed or strengthened to be resilient to natural hazards. The resilient school buildings serve nearly 1,200 students across four schools in Atele, Kanokupolu, Te’eiku, and Euiki all of which are in the country’s Tongatapu region. Efforts are ongoing to construct or strengthen an additional 56 school buildings to be resilient by 2029, which would bring the total number of students benefitting to 8,000. Prioritization of the school building investments has been based on an assessment of the national school building stock’s vulnerability to disaster. 

A key priority in the construction has been to ensure that the school buildings are not only resilient, but also safe and inclusive for all students. Accordingly, across all the 24 school buildings that are now resilient, gender-sensitive and socially inclusive water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities are now in place. The new WASH facilities include features such as locks on bathroom doors, sufficient lighting, and menstrual hygiene management materials including waste disposal and hand wash dispensers. The remaining school buildings supported by the project are also designed to have similarly inclusive WASH facilities. 

Prior analytical work, supported by GFDRR, on the gender and social inclusion gap at Tongan schools set the stage for the efforts to make the WASH facilities inclusive. One finding was that approximately 34 percent of post-pubescent girls at primary school and 32 percent at secondary school who were surveyed as part of the analytical work said that they prefer not to use WASH facilities on school grounds, which can have negative implications for school attendance. 

Analytical work supported by GFDRR has also underscored the importance of seizing opportunities to advance inclusion in resilience-building. In that spirit, these efforts to build inclusive and resilient schools in Tonga are also serving as an entry point to address the broader gender and social inclusion gap at Tongan schools, including the learning environment for students. For example, through the Tonga Safe and Resilient Schools Project, the World Bank is now supporting the development of a counseling program for students designed to address key gender and social issues in Tonga such as early marriage and genderbased violence. 

Looking ahead, a major emphasis for GFDRR support will be to ensure that Tonga can be even more in control in sustaining and accelerating the country’s progress toward inclusive and resilient schools. For example, in the past fiscal year, Tongan education officials have participated in a training program focused on the operations and maintenance of school buildings. Covering a range of structural typologies common in Tonga, a school maintenance manual is currently under development. Tonga’s Ministry of Education and Training is expected to adopt the manual, which will be translated to the Tongan language. This will support Tongan schools, Parent Teacher Associations, and the ministry in undertaking maintenance activities; some of the more complex maintenance activities will be addressed by the ministry.